Susannah Lloyd is the author of Revenge of the Claw, Badgers Are Go, Who Ate Steve, Here Be Giants, Oh Monty, Here Be Dragons, This Book Can Read Your Mind, and The Terribly Friendly Fox.
Today she joins Ian Eagleton in The Reading Realm for a chat about her latest book, Badgers Are Go: Revenge of the Claw, which is illustrated by Nici Gregory…
Before we settle down in The Reading Realm for a chat, what’s your drink and snack of choice?
A cup of tea with a bag of ready salted hula hoops and a penguin biscuit, stolen from my kid’s lunch supplies. This combination seems to work as the best writing fuel for me.
Tell us about your book in three sentences and then three words!
Badgers Are Go: Revenge of the Claw – three sentences:
- The paws of progress keep marching forward at the Rumpington Academy of Badgering, and ‘totally normal badger inventor and all-round jolly good fellow’ Professor Briskwhiskers, has invented an incredible improvement to the classic Badger Operated Person– the snout activated oscillating hypnotiser device!
- Our hero Lulu keeps standing out for all the wrong reasons at the Academy, but she must put her ability to fit in to the test at the Claw Institute of Villainy, Scoundrelling and All-Round-Boundary, if she is to thwart the schemes of the villainous Velvet Claw.
- It turns out that moles are not born evil, they must study very hard for it.
Three words:
- Bravery
- Killer Trout
- Custard
If one of your characters could come to dinner, who would you invite and what would you cook them? What do you think you’d talk about?
I would invite a new a character from this book, Ernest Blundersnout, and I would prepare his favourite pudding, cricket à la crème, with just some crème on the side, for me. We would discuss his studies in Advanced Villainy.
Artwork by Nici Gregory
What’s the funniest word you know that always makes you laugh?
‘Scandalised.’ I’m not sure why, but I love saying it, and I will never grow bored of writing about scandalised and scandalising characters.
What’s the silliest or strangest thing you’ve ever researched for a story?
I take my research into badgers very seriously! For example, what they wear, what their schedules look like, and what they eat. So far I have discovered that sugared earthworms, boiled woodlice and triple treacle worm surprise are very popular choices among the UK badger population.
Do your characters ever surprise you?
Absolutely! I am both a planner and a ‘panster*,’ so I am often being surprised (and scandalised) by my characters.
(*‘Pantsing’ is the ‘fly by the seat of your pants’ approach to plotting a book.)
If your writing desk could speak, what would it say about you?
STOP sitting there munching on biscuits and START writing! Yes, we see you there! And whilst you are at it, what sort of a mess do you call this? Your tax receipts have got muddled up with your recipes for imaginary badger puddings again.
Did you like reading when you were a child? If so, what?
Yes I loved reading, and I loved being read to. My parents always read to me at bedtime, and when I was older I would go to sleep listening to a big stack of audiobooks on tape cassette. My teachers in primary school read to us at the end of the school day, and I went to the library every weekend to stock up on new books. All those books were rocket fuel for my imagination. My favourite picture books were Trubloff, The Mouse Who Wanted to Play the Balalaika, by John Burningham, and Mr Rabbit and the Lovely Present by Charlotte Zolotow and Maurice Sendak. My favourite chapter book was the extremely eccentric Fattypuffs and Thinifers by Andre Maurois, from the 1930s, as illustrated by Fritz Wegner in the 60s.
What’s your favourite book that isn’t yours?
I have always adored How Tom Beat Captain Najork and His Hired Sportsmen by Russell Hoban and Quentin Blake, and I always will. I recommend it to anyone who will listen.
What book do you wish you could read for the first time again?
All of the Moomin stories by Tove Jannson, but especially The Memoirs of Moominpapa.
What’s the funniest thing a child has said to you?
I was once talking to some year two children about John Burningham’s Would You Rather and one child thought of his own idea – would you rather have a nose made of jelly or a jelly full of noses? I loved that. I choose the jelly please. Another girl in the same class told me about the adventures of all the imaginary horses that lived in her playground. They were there waiting for her every time she went out to play, come rain or shine. Children are so free and playful in their imaginations. I wish it wasn’t so hard to stay that way!
If you weren’t an author, what would you be?
When I was a child I wanted to own a sweet shop but I am pretty sure it would not have made profits, as I was planning to eat the sweets all day long. I have another job now, as a speech therapist, so I think if I wasn’t writing it would more of that. But I couldn’t not be an author. I get really grumpy if I haven’t had the chance to write.
What BAD advice would you give to someone who wants to be a writer?
Make it perfect, first time.
This is truly terrible advice, but lots of people believe it and none of those people end up writing a single word. It frightens all ideas clean out of your head. I am a big believer in the messy first draft (and second, third, fourth etc…)
SPEED ROUND:
Cake or biscuits? Neither – trifle please
Dinosaurs or unicorns? Dinosaurs
Pirates or astronauts? Pirates
Museums or theme parks? Museums, the dustier the better. Bonus points if there are stuffed animals.
Cats or dogs? Cats. My cat is watching me as I write this and she would be bitterly betrayed if I said otherwise.
Summer or winter? I love a bright blue autumn day too much to commit to either.
Aliens or robots? Robots
THANK YOU Susannah for joining us in The Reading Realm today!
